Pac-12 could use bump outside its league

Bob Clark

Wednesday

Feb 15, 2012 at 12:01 AM

UCLA is playing USC tonight, which will allow the Bruins to play at St. John’s on Saturday.

Granted, it might not be the year to be showing off UCLA in a nationally televised game against a team from the Big East, but might a handful of nonconference games during the Pac-12 season be something to consider in future seasons?

Oregon coach Dana Altman and other conference coaches on Tuesday offered their support for the idea, arguing that this is a season where Pac-12 teams might be able to battle that national perception the league is down by showing it has improved. A nonconference game now might also help boost the computer ratings of Pac-12 teams.

Altman called it potentially “advantageous” to show off the Pac-12 against other leagues now to offset the early results. He said the number of players who could have returned for another season but instead chose to leave early for the NBA draft led to adjustments that teams like Arizona and Washington had to make for those unexpected personnel losses, and pointed to both of those teams as greatly improved since November.

“At the beginning of the season, as a (Pac-12) group, we didn’t play well and that really hurt our league,” UO junior E.J. Singler added. “A lot of teams have improved and a lot of (Pac-12) teams can compete with any other teams in the nation.”

The opportunity for more nonleague games during the conference season could open up next year, with the Pac-12 expected to alter its traditional schedule of two-game weekends in order to offer more scheduling options to meet the demands of the new television contracts.

Oregon in recent seasons hasn’t played a nonleague opponent once the conference schedule began, save for the occasional meeting with a Willamette or Portland State during the one-game week against Oregon State, but Altman said he’d consider a nonleague game in January or February against a higher-profile opponent.

“It depends on who you can schedule,” Altman said. “If TV were to call (with an enticing offer), I think, yeah. … It would be hard to just play anybody, it would be hard to go on the road, but we would be open to it.”

Emory’s on board, starting with practice

Altman again praised the recent contributions of junior Carlos Emory, who has averaged 11 points and 6.4 rebounds over the past five games. Altman said the improvement of Emory actually started about five weeks ago in practices.

“He was not happy with his playing time and we told him that (practice) was the first place he had to get it started,” Altman said. “He’s cut down on his mistakes and he’s made big strides in the past five weeks.”

Singler termed Emory as “the x-factor” in Oregon’s recent play.

“We can see his confidence growing is the biggest thing,” Singler said. “He looks a lot more comfortable on the floor. It’s just kind of knowing his role and what he has to do.”

The one thing Emory hasn’t done is speak with the media, and he wasn’t one of the players made available Tuesday during Oregon’s regular session with reporters.

“He’s got other responsibilities he’s got to take care of before he takes care of those,” Altman said, without offering specifics. “He’s got to worry about Carlos first” before interview requests.

Singler’s ’do not as much ado anymore

Though Singler said last month that he might trim his longer locks if the Ducks lost a game, that hasn’t happened.

Singler said part of the reason for no haircut is that Altman has come around to the idea of longer hair, after initially expressing some dismay.

“He’s actually getting more used to it,” Singler said.

Jeremy Jacob said that Singler’s on-court appearance is different than it is away from basketball.

“When he’s not playing, he conditions it and it looks real nice,” Jacob said.

Singler acknowledged that there’s truth to that. “I put some product in it, so it looks a little bit better,” he said.

Montgomery likens E.J. to his glue guys

Cal coach Mike Montgomery, talking about playing Oregon on Thursday, called Singler “one of the better players in the league.

“He’s a glue guy who can do a lot of things,” Montgomery said during the Pac-12 conference call. “He’s a guy who kind of holds (Oregon) together a little bit like our seniors do.”

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